The invention at hand relates to a burner system with staged fuel injection as well as an operating method associated with it. The burner system includes a burner with a swirl generator for a combustion air stream and means for introducing fuel into the combustion air stream, whereby the means for introducing fuel into the combustion air stream includes at least one first fuel supply means with a first group of fuel outlet openings for a first premix fuel amount and a second fuel supply means with a second group of fuel outlet openings downstream from the first group of fuel outlet openings for a second premix fuel amount. A preferred field of application for such a burner system is the gas and steam turbine technology.
EP 0 321 809 B1 discloses a conical burner having several shells, a so-called double-cone burner. The conical swirl generator composed of several shells produces a closed swirl flow in the cone head, which, based on the increasing swirl, becomes instable along the cone tip and changes into an annular swirl flow with backflow in the core. The shells of the swirl generator are configured in such a way that tangential air inlet slits for the combustion air are formed along the burner axis. Along the cone shells"" inflow edge created by this, supply means for the premix gas, i.e., the gaseous fuel, are provided, which have outlet openings for the premix gas distributed in the direction of the burner axis. The gas is injected transversely to the air inlet slit through the outlet openings or holes. In connection with the swirl of the combustion air/combustion gas flow generated in the swirl chamber, this injection results in a good mixing of the combustion or premix gas with the combustion air. In such premix burners, a good mixing is the prerequisite for low NOx values during the combustion process.
In order to further improve on such a burner, EP 0 780 629 A2 discloses a burner for a heat generator provided after the swirl generator with an additional mixing section for mixing fuel and combustion air. This mixing section, for example, could be realized as a subsequent pipe, into which the flow exiting the swirl generator is guided without any significant flow losses. This additional mixing section makes it possible to further increase the mixing efficiency and therefore to reduce noxious emissions.
FIG. 1 schematically shows an example for such burners, in which the fuel is mixed with the inflowing combustion air via outlet openings in supply channels arranged along the burner axis in the swirl body 1. The figure hereby shows the conical swirl body 1 of the burner, on or in which the fuel supply means with outlet openings 2 arranged along the burner axisxe2x80x94shown in the figure by arrows symbolizing the injected fuelxe2x80x94extend. These fuel supply means usually are constructed as single channels with a fixed distribution of the fuel outlet openings 2 along the burner axis. The figure also shows a pilot lance 3, through which the fuel is injected directly into the swirl chamber during the start-up of the burner. With an increasing load, a switchover from this pilot stage to the premix operation occurs, in which the fuel is mixed via the mentioned fuel outlet openings 2 with the inflowing combustion air.
Another known burner geometry of a premix burner is known from WO 93/17279. This arrangement uses a cylindrical swirl generator with an additional, conical internal body. The premix gas is also injected via supply means with corresponding outlet openings into the swirl chamber, the outlet openings being arranged along the axially extending air inlet slits. The pilot supply means of this burner is provided at the end of the conical internal body. The pilot operation results in increased NOx emissions, however, since this type of operation only allows an insufficient mixing with the combustion air.
All known burner systems are designed with a single-stage supply of the fuel during premix operation. Size, distribution, arrangement, spacing, as well number of the outlet openings of the fuel supply means along the burner axis must be optimized in order to fulfill the requirements regarding low emissions, extinction limit, backflash limit, as well as requirements for combustion stability. It is hereby almost impossible to also fulfill all of these requirements with a fixed distribution of the outlet openings under changing operating and environmental conditions. The characteristic of injection with respect to penetration depth and mixing-in of the gas jets as well as the fuel distribution along the air inlet slits or burner axis are established by the selection of the aforementioned parameters. A distribution of the outlet openings that are optimized for a particular type of system, for example with a ring combustion chamber, is no longer optimized for another type of system, for example one with a silo combustion chamber. Furthermore, the operating conditions of a system change over time, for example because leakage currents increase as a result of aging effects. A fixed distribution of the outlet openings is unable to compensate for such aging effects.
Another advantage of the known methods for operating premix burners is that they are optimized for low emissions and low combustion oscillations under full load conditions. An additional pilot stage is necessary for starting up the burner and gas turbine. At a certain operating load, at which the combustion can be maintained in premix operation, the burner is switched from the pilot to the premix stage. In the same manner, the shutting down of the gas turbine requires a switchover from premix operation to pilot operation. However, these switching processes cause strong combustion oscillations as well as large load oscillations. They furthermore require large amounts of an inert gas in order to flush the fuel supply means that are no longer in operation after the switchover. This is necessary in order to avoid an ignition of the unused fuel supply means through circulating hot gases.
Switchover processes from liquid to gaseous fuel, or vice versa, are also difficult to realize using existing fuel injection techniques because of the proximity of the injection nozzles to the inlet openings of the pilot system.
An aspect of the invention is a burner system as well as a method for operating a burner that do not have the above disadvantages and also permit optimized operation with changing operating and environmental conditions.
The burner system according to the invention includes a burner with a swirl generator for a combustion air stream and means for introducing fuel into the combustion air stream, whereby the means for introducing fuel into the combustion air stream includes at least one first fuel supply means with a first group of fuel outlet openings for a first premix fuel amount (first stage) and a second fuel supply means with a second group of fuel outlet openings (second stage) downstream from the first group of fuel outlet openings for a second premix fuel amount. Naturally, further groups of fuel outlet openings for further premix fuel amounts can be provided independently from the first and second group. Furthermore, several first and second fuel supply means for the respective stage are usually distributed with their outlet openings over the circumference of the swirl body, as is known already from the single-phased systems. The burner system also comprises a first measuring value probe that measures pulsations of a combustion initiated by the burner, and/or a second measuring value probe that measures the emission values of the combustion. The measuring value probes are connected to a control device that receives the measuring data from the measuring value probe(s) and controls the fuel supply by way of the first and second fuel supply meansxe2x80x94as well as, if applicable, other fuel supply meansxe2x80x94dependent on the measuring data provided by the measuring value probe(s). The control therefore adheres to the desired specifications. Naturally, more than one measuring value probe can be used to measure the pulsations and/or emission values.
In the simplest case of such a burner system, all or several of the fuel supply means arranged at the swirl body, in the case of single-stage systems, are divided into at least two independent channels for the fuel in order to form the different stages. Naturally, several juxtaposed fuel supply means can be provided, in which the outlet openings are offset from each other along the longitudinal axis in such a way as to form the separate stages. The skilled artisan will recognize many ways available for providing different groups of outlet openings on the swirl body along the burner axis, where said groups can be supplied with fuel independently from each other. The fuel supply to the individual stages is controlled or regulated via the control device according to the aforementioned specifications, dependent on the pulsations and/or emission values. Preferably, this is accomplished with control valves provided in the supply lines to the first and second fuel supply means.
Suitable measuring value probes that can be provided in the flame regionxe2x80x94in order to measure the pulsationsxe2x80x94or at the outlet of the burnerxe2x80x94in order to measure the emission valuesxe2x80x94are known to the expert. Numerous sensors for measuring the emissions and, as a rule, acoustic sensors for measuring the pulsations, are available for this purpose.
The control of the fuel supply means by way of the control device is performed preferably by means of comparative data stored in a memory of the control device. The control device compares the measured data with the control data in order to be able to determine the current operating point of the burner system and control the fuel supply in towards the desired operating point.
Compared with single-stage burner systems, the use of a burner system with staged fuel injection permits a clearly expanded operating range. With a suitable arrangement of the supply lines to the fuel supply means of the individual stages, this does not require any additional, separate fuel cycle. The independent controllability of the at least two stages of the burner system in connection with the control device permit an operation with low pulsations from ignition to basic load as well as low NOx emissions. No pilot stage is required for this burner system, so that also no switchover processes with the associated pulsations or load oscillations occur. The operation of the burner system does not require flushing with inert gases, such as, for example, N2. This at the same time reduces the operating costs of the system. The absence of the pilot stage also makes it possible to realize a simpler switchover from fuel oil to fuel gas operation and vice versa.
A special advantage of the burner system of the present invention is the dynamic controllability via the control device, whereby an optimum operating point can be realized for every type of system, every environmental condition, every age, and every degree of leakage. In particular, this operating point can be continuously adapted dependant on the mentioned parameters during operation of the system. The burner system as well as the associated operating method therefore permits optimum operation of the system under changing operating and environmental conditions.
In a preferred embodiment of the present burner system, the supply line to the fuel supply means of the second stage branches off the first stagexe2x80x94or vice versa. In this case, the burner system only can be controlled by controlling a control valve that influences the distribution of the fuel amount to the two fuel supply means. With a specified total fuel supply, this means that the distribution between the two stages is controlled via this valve. The control device hereby is connected only with this valve.
In the preferred type of operation of the present burner system, the fuel supply to the first and second stage is controlled in such a way as to minimize the pulsations and emission values. The control is preferably accomplished by a comparison with control data stored in the control device that were determined during prior testing and that show a dependence between the pulsations and emission values and the fuel supply to the first and second stage or the fuel distribution between the first and second stage. Here also it is naturally possible to operate more than two stages in the same manner.
A very good operating behavior is found when, during stationary operation, the fuel supply is controlled in such a way that the operating point is below the maximum of the pulsationsxe2x80x94dependant on the fuel supply to the first stagexe2x80x94and in the case of a transient operation is above the maximum of the pulsations.
Although the present patent application does not give a detailed description of the exact size of the outlet openings, their arrangement, their spacing, and their distribution, the skilled artisan will not have a problem in finding suitable geometries and distributions. This may be accomplished simply by realizing the outlet openings provided in existing single-stage burners on the swirl body along the burner axis also in the same way for the present burner system, whereby the fuel supply means channel hereby must only be divided into parts that form the first and second stage. The skilled artisan will be aware of possibilities for optimizing or adapting the distribution of the outlet openings from single-stage burners.